minutes



Patented Aug. 7, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT crates,

GEORGE WILLIAM ODELL, OF BINGHAMTON, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE INTER- NATIONAL TIME RECORDING COMPANY OF NEW YORK, A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

as. I

Application filed J'une 29, 1921. Serial No. 481,197.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE IV. ODELL, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Binghamton, in the county of Broome and State of New York, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Time Cards, of which the following is a full, clear and exact description.

In certain branches of industry it is usual at the present time to have each employee make and preserve a record of the time spent on each job, for which purpose it is customary to use some form of time recorder into which the workman inserts a card at the startand finish of a job, and thereby prints or otherwise records thereon what is commonly known as his on and his off times. Some of these records print, others punch and still others out out certain sections of these cards, from which cutout sections, by another machine, the elapsed time is computed, printed or recorded and, if the card is punched with a definltely placed slot or perforation to indicate the rate of pay, the total amount due the workman for the time put into that particular job is also recorded. x

I have heretofore devised and patented both cards and recorders of this last named type, and for a more ready understanding of theart as it existed prior to the invention upon which is based the present application for Letters Patent, by those not familiar with such art I mayrefer to my Patents No. 1,221,895, dated April 10, 19.17, and No. 1,250,494, dated December 18, 191 7.

In these patents a card was inserted into the recorder .and the latter operated to cut out along one side a section of'a length from the corner dependent upon and indicating the on time. At the finish of the job the same card was again inserted in the machine and automatically a section was cut out from the opposite edge of the card of a length from the corner corresponding to the time at which the second insertion was made. Thus, cards were produced having at one end sections cut out from the corners at one end along opposite edges, of different lengths, and a properly designed machine, into which such cards were introduced, computed and set up a record of the the subject of another application; i

elapsed time and money value correspondmg to the difference in the lengths of the two out out sections.

The present invention involves a recorder L of this general type, but differing from that referred to in that when a card isin-v troduced for the on time, it. cuts outa sec-v tion along one edge at each end of the card,

one to indicate the minutes, the other the hours and records the fact that this card received such record. On the second or ofl introduction of the card, the recorder cuts out a sectionat each end along the op-.

posite edge of the card, one section indicating the minutes, the other the hours of the time of the second introduction and records this fact so that further insertion will not alter the record already made. Each card,

therefore, that indicates the elapsed time of a I a finished job (assuming itto have been inserted in the machine at other times than" exactly on the even hour), will contain vfour cutout sections, two on. each edge and at opposite ends of the card, the first of the cuts on the minute side being always made to indicate to the machine thenumber of times the card has been inserted.

There is a marked andimportant advantage in thus cuttinga card, as in the first shorter card is required for any ordinary indicated by the cutson'the two edges," and makes, if necessary, other computations.

Such machines are well known in" this art,

and I shall not go into avdescription of their character or mode of operation, as

neither is in anyway involved in'the'special improvement of this application which re sides in the improved card above described. The recorder for cutting such cards is mad In the accompanying drawings I have shown. the improved card in its three forms or conditions. Fig.1 shoWs the card before being used; Fig. 2 the same card after its first insertion into the recorder, and Fig. 3 the same card after its second insertion, or in the condition in which it indicates the on and the off times of a job.

The card is composed of the material commonly employed 'for workmens time cards, and is made of the usual size, substantially that shown. In one edge, or that which is designed to pass into the recorder on the first insertion, is a notch or cut-away portion 1. At one end, for convenience, a scale of nine equal parts 2 is printed on both edges, and at the opposite end a scale 3 of as many equal divisions as there are hours in the working day is also printed. g

In the present case the minute'scales 2, have. nine divisions as the cutters of the recording machine which cut out the cards under the scales move one step or the length of one division once every six minutes or nine times each hour, and these minute scales which mark the sections to be, cut out do not begin at the corners but at certain "distances therefrom. In other words,

there are blank spaces 4 at the minute end of the card.

Let it be assumed that a working day begins at 6 a. m. and ends at 5 p. In. with one hour for dinner, and that a workman begins a certain job at 7 :30 a. m. He in serts his card'into the recorder which has cutters that are moved by time-controlled mechanism and which, on the first insertion, cut out a section on the minute side equal in length to the aggregate of five sections plus the blank space, and on the hour side "one section. The recorder also prints on the margin of the card the Word Start in one or more places.

-When the job is finished, say, at six minutes past three, the card is again inserted into the recorder, which is properly designed so as not to again out the starting edge, but which cuts out on the minute end a section equal to one division of the scale plus the blank space, and on the hour end a section equal to the aggregate length of eight hour divisions, and the card, when removed from the machine, will appear as in Fig.3, with the word Finish printed at one or more points in the margin.

Of'course, in practice, an automatic recording or cutting machine is used, and as the operation of such machine is determined solely by the configuration of the cards, it is essential that a section corresponding to the blank spaces be cut out from one corner of the minute endof the card, wherever the minute cutters happen to be at the moment of the first insertion, so that upon the second insertion the mutilated card will operate the cutters on the opposite side of the card. It is also essential that the part 1 be cut out to determine the edge of the card which must be inserted first.

- The fact, however, that the cards, in practioe, Will be cut by a machine is not a relevant fact to this invention for they apair of calipers, and the elapsed time figured out from the difference in the lengths of the cut-0ut sections on opposite sides of the card. y

In the card herein shown is a perforation 42. The position or character of this perforation indicates the rate at whichthe workman is tobe paid, This is not new, however, and requires no further description herein. It .may also be observed that the minute divisions on the card are shown at the leftand the hour divisions at the V finishing time by sections cut out from the other edge. 1

2.'A workmans card indicating the elapsed time on a given job, having cutout sections along each edge at one end of lengths corresponding to the fractions of one; hour and along each edge at the opposite end of lengths corresponding to the hours of a working day at which the starting and finishing times were recorded.

3. A Workmans card indicating the elapsed time on a given job, having a cut out section 'on'the onedge or that on which the starting time is recorded, and cut-out sections along each edge at one end of lengths corresponding to the fractions of one hour plus a given blank space, and I along each edge at the opposite "end of lengths corresponding to the hours of a working day at which the starting and finishing times were recorded.

In testimony whereof I hereto afiix my signature.

GEORGE WILLIAM ODELL, 

